Draco's List
by Dilly01
Summary: Harry knows what he wants for Christmas, he just hopes Draco feels the same.


A shrill scream followed by noisy sobs pierced the air, causing Harry and several other people standing near him to wince. He scanned the room until he found Hermione, at whom he glared, accusingly. She gave a rueful shrug as she moved nearer to the weeping child, who had now dropped to the floor, adding somewhat unnecessary drama to an already sterling performance.

Ron appeared at Harry's side, his hair wildly messy, a streak of some unidentifiable purple substance adorning his cheek, and a crazed look in his eye. He grabbed Harry's elbow in a vice like hold. "Remind me, once again," he began "why we ever listen to Hermione's bright ideas. This one, in particular, makes me wonder if she actually really is very clever. I think she might have been fooling us all these years. She's probably got Troll blood in her. Or she's using some dodgy magic to convince us to agree with whatever she suggests"

His good humour restored, Harry chuckled, and patted Ron on his shoulder. "I seem to recall you being madly enthusiastic about the idea of Ministry staff running a Christmas party for the War Orphans. In fact, you came up with quite a few of the games that have caused such chaos today." Raising his eyebrows, he counted them off on his fingers: "Niffler's Gold; that started a minor riot, and House Elf Hide and Seek had some of the senior elves threatening strike action. I'm just grateful Hermione vetoed Banish Your Boggart – we'd be lumbered with therapy bills for the kids for decades to come."

At this point, two small children grabbed hold of the pair, and demanded that they partner them in the next activity. It appeared, to Harry, to be some sort of wizarding version of the Hokey Cokey, and as he'd missed out on participating in such things in his childhood, he joined in with gusto. His enjoyment was heightened still further when he saw that Draco Malfoy had been dragged onto the floor by a plump redheaded girl – with whom he appeared to be arguing about the finer intricacies of the moves involved.

Catching Harry's eye, Malfoy scowled darkly then cast his glare round the gathering until he found Hermione. Looking back at Harry, he pointed at the witch, then drew a finger across his throat in a mime of what he'd like to do to her. Harry grinned and nodded, then as the game drew to an end, they moved off towards the food and drink tables.

The two men worked closely together at the Ministry, and over the last few years a warm friendship had gradually replaced their previous rivalry. Harry was very aware that recently, a feeling above and beyond friendship was starting to creep into his consciousness. He was yet to explore this feeling too deeply, but felt an overwhelming urge to be physically near Draco as much as possible.

Having paused to select some of his favourite party foods, Harry then moved along to where Draco was grimly surveying the drinks available. As he reached him, Draco turned and pinched Harry's arm, hard. "Who was put in charge of refreshments for this debacle?" he enquired, peevishly. "There is not a single beverage available here that will numb me sufficiently to tolerate the remainder of this nightmarish episode. What a truly appalling way to spend a Saturday afternoon."

Harry shoved Draco, in retaliation for the pinch. "Oh get over yourself, you know you love it. It's just as well you weren't responsible for the food and drink. I can see the headline now: "Evil Ministry Staff Ply War Orphans With Alcohol." Shut up and have some Pumpkin Fizz. Only another half hour before they all go back to the Orphanages." He eyed a small group; now engaged in a game of Blindwizard's Bluff, supervised by Hermione and Ginny. "At least they'll have some good memories of this Christmas."

Draco gave a dignified little snort. "Spare me the sentiment, Potter. I'm just praying that the little horrors wait until they get home before they start projectile vomiting the huge amounts of sweets and cakes they've all consumed." He nudged Harry, and pointed to a vacant table nearby. "Let's sit there and you can eat your food, you'll only make a mess if you try and eat standing up."

Frowning, but inwardly acknowledging the truth of this statement, Harry followed Draco and settled down to enjoy his snacks. Hearing Ginny's laugh as she sorted out a blindfolded child who seemed to be irretrievably entwined in a tablecloth, he looked up and mused, "Ginny doesn't even work for the Ministry, and she's here helping. Not everyone's as Bah Humbug as you, Draco."

"As what?" Draco asked, in an irritated tone. "Oh, never mind. Obscure Muggle reference, again, I'm sure. And as for Ms Weasley, she's presumably getting in practice for the myriad children she intends to inflict upon the Wizarding World once she's got you firmly in yoke." He pulled a face, and Harry wondered, not for the first time, why Ginny was the only one in their group of friends that Draco was unable to get on with. He'd reached an amicable truce with Ron, based mainly on chess and Quidditch, but never with his sister. They were civil enough with one another, but it was a brittle politeness, easily fractured into cutting insults that went far beyond the friendly banter of the others.

For now, Harry just said, "I must introduce you to "A Christmas Carol," Draco, I think you and Scrooge would have been kindred spirits. And you're completely wrong about Gin; she has no more desire to marry me than I have to marry her. Which is none. So lay off her, you two drive me crazy with all your bickering."

Draco muttered something that sounded like, "utterly deluded," but said no directly more on that subject. "I imagine you're heading to the Burrow on the 25th to immerse yourself in a Weasley Christmas, then?" he enquired, squinting at the bright orange fizzy drink in his glass.

"Actually, no," Harry answered, causing Draco to look at him in surprise. "They're all off to France, the whole crew of them, to visit Fleur's family. I was invited, but I passed. It'll be pretty crowded, and I didn't think I could cope with a whole week of Fleur and Molly griping at one another. I'm going to Andromeda's on Christmas Eve and staying for a few days. It'll give me a chance to catch up with Teddy."

Draco gave one of his best smirks. "Indeed. That's interesting. Were you aware that my aunt has also invited my mother and me to join her for the festivities? She forbore to mention that you would be there. Probably realised it would put us off. So what hideous Muggle toys are you planning to inflict on my cousin as a poor excuse for Christmas presents?"

Trying to hide the rising excitement he felt at the thought of spending the holiday period with Draco, Harry pasted on a thoughtful expression. "Oh, yeah, she did mention something about feeling duty bound to invite some tiresome, dreary relatives, and how we'd have to try and make the most of it." He sniggered as Draco spluttered with indignation. "As for Teddy, I've got him a broom. The first one I got him didn't seem to suit him." He grinned at Draco. "Let me guess. You got him a Potions Set."

Draco looked superior. "Someone has to start educating the poor child in the ways of our World, and he's clearly not going to get any cultural help or guidance from his poor excuse for a Godfather. I think you're on a lost cause with that broom. He would appear to have inherited his father's disinclination to fly and his mother's inability to walk across a room without some sort of physical disaster."

Harry shrugged. "Can but try. And I've bought him some other bits and pieces he might like more. So what can I get your mum for Christmas? It would be rude not to buy her something. I've got Andromeda some earrings and a new cloak, but I wouldn't have a clue what to buy for Narcissa."

Draco looked down his nose at Harry. "Of course you wouldn't, you culturally challenged buffoon. Perhaps we should meet in Diagon Alley tomorrow and I can help in preventing you make the sort of purchase that would forever condemn you to my mother's Red List."

Harry was puzzled. "Isn't that a black list?" he asked, hesitantly. Sometimes, still, he felt he would never fully understand the ways of the world in which he was immersed.

Looking shocked, Draco hastened to correct him. "No, indeed. You could only ever aspire to appear on Mother's Black List, just the favoured few are on there, myself included, of course. The Red List contains those who have committed such social or behavioural faux pas that they are never to be entertained at the Manor or even acknowledged in public."

Hastily agreeing that he had no desire to appear on such an index, Harry agreed to meet Draco on the following day. They were both then subjected to the wrath of Hermione, who descended on them to ask why they weren't helping get the orphans ready to leave. Harry dragged a reluctant Draco with him and after seeing the last of the children off, the two of them joined their friends for a well-deserved drink at their favourite bar.

The following morning saw Harry waiting for Draco outside Flourish and Blotts. His friend was late, and Harry was freezing. He was blowing into his clenched fists when Draco appeared suddenly, sneered, "Warming charm, moron," and flicked his wand. Harry, glowing suddenly, grinned at him, and followed him along the street to a discreetly signed shop he had never visited before. Once inside, he looked round at carefully lit stands showing a variety of expensive looking articles. A haughty looking witch approached them, her manner softening slightly when she saw Draco.

"Mr Malfoy. A pleasure as always," she murmured, inclining her head. Draco acknowledged the greeting, then gestured to Harry. "Mr Potter, here, wishes to purchase something for my mother, as a Christmas gift," he explained. "Perhaps you have something suitable you can show him?" The woman's eyes had widened when she heard Harry's name, and she turned to him looking much more human and approachable.

"Of course, Mr Potter, what an honour, please come this way." She led the way over to a counter at one side of the shop, and asked, delicately, "May I enquire as to your budget for this purchase, Mr Potter?" She looked at him, eyebrows raised, and Harry blushed and fidgeted uncomfortably, he hated conversations like this.

"Oh, um, I'm not sure," he mumbled, "Um…," here, Draco interrupted. "He wishes to buy something classy and understated, but he doesn't want to be ripped off," he said, briskly. The serving witch pursed her lips, but nodded, and disappeared into a back room.

"Thanks for that," Harry murmured. "I'm totally out of my depth in situations like this. Give me an Auror raid any day."

"Really, Harry? You shock me. You always seem so polished and urbane." Draco looked sideways at him, then returned his attention to the witch who had returned with a selection of items. Eventually, they settled on a delicate, long necked vase, charmed to keep flowers alive for as long as they were needed and a silvery, long fringed stole.

Harry sighed with relief as they left the shop. "Thanks, again, Draco. Only one more person to buy for, now and I can't have you with me for that, I'm afraid. I'll just have to risk appearing on your "Unacceptable List."

Looking delighted to be fed such a line, Draco responded with, "You've been at the head of that list ever since I met you. Much too late to do anything about it at this stage. I will leave you to ponder on what to buy me, but just remember: I don't do cheap and I don't do tacky. He left Harry with a small wave, ignoring the hand gesture and mouthing of a rude name that comprised Harry's farewell to him.

Alone again, Harry considered his options. He didn't have long; he was expected at The Burrow for Sunday lunch, a penance for rejecting their Christmas hospitality. Not that he minded, but it was going to be chaos there – the next day was Christmas Eve, and they were Portkeying to France first thing in the morning.

He headed off to look at the surrounding shops, wondering what he could get Draco that would show him how important he was. He had already decided on one gift; not new, he already owned it but it was something that he thought Draco would be thrilled with. Half an hour later, he'd found two more presents; one, a silver comb, beautifully engraved with dragons, the other a leather bound notebook, with a butter soft cover. It sold itself to Harry because of the words engraved on the front. "My Lists," it said, and he had to buy it.

Arriving at The Burrow, laden down with gifts, Harry was greeted by Molly who took time to berate him, once again, for not going to France with them, before hugging and kissing him and instructing him to go into the living room. She held onto his arm as he was about to do so, a troubled look on her face. "Ginny's here," she said. "She's got……oh, well, you'll see in a minute. Not to worry." She patted his arm, and shooed him out of the kitchen.

The living room was a sea of red hair and noise. Ron waved to him from the other side of the room, but before he could make his way over, Ginny appeared before him, a tall, thickset man with mousy brown hair at her side. "Harry, hi," she said brightly. "This is Tim, Tim – Harry." Harry shook hands and exchanged greetings with the man, who seemed nervous and twitchy. "Tim, be an angel and ask my mum for some more nibbles, would you?" she asked and he nodded and headed off to the kitchen.

Harry smiled at Ginny. "He seems nice," he said. "Isn't he one of the Beaters for the Falcons? I'm sure I saw him in their last match against the Magpies, he was great?"

Ginny nodded. "Mmm, yes," she said. She looked up at Harry with a slightly defiant expression. "We're together, now, Tim and I. I've given up waiting for you, Harry, it was never going to happen and I've recently accepted I'd need to be a rather different sort of Quidditch player for you to fancy me." Harry looked puzzled. "A male one," she clarified, and ignored Harry's blushes as she continued, "We're none of us completely stupid, you know, we see the way you and Malfoy gaze at one another." She grinned at Harry's indignant expression. "I think my brothers have even got some kind of bet going on about which one of you will make a move first. Even my parents are speculating about it"

Harry found his voice. "Well that's charming, I must say. So all of you are enjoying gossiping about my sexual preferences, but none of you have bothered to talk to me about it?" Ginny cocked an eyebrow at him, and he relaxed into laughter; he was notorious amongst their group for being unwilling to discuss his inner feelings or relationships. He clasped her shoulder and smiled down at her. "I'm so sorry if I've led you to believe that there could be anything between us, Gin. But honestly, we're much better as friends, and I really hope Tim makes you happy."

Ginny gave a crooked smile. "You never did lead me on, Harry. It was all in my head. But this thing with Tim, it's real. It feels right. So when are you going to make a move on Malfoy then? You do realise it'll have to be you; all that self assured, indifferent stuff is just nonsense. He's petrified you'd reject him, he'd never get over it." She gave him one last smile, then turned to greet Tim, who had returned with a tray of sausage rolls.

Harry realised that she was right. He was going to have to muster his inner Gryffindor, and grasp his prickly Malfoy nettle. He was suddenly struck with uncontrollable laughter at the thought of what Draco would think if he found out Ginny was dishing out relationship advice for them. When he'd calmed down, he headed off to find Ron – they had some talking to do.

An hour after reaching Andromeda's house the next morning, Harry had finally calmed a very over excited Teddy down enough for a conversation with his hostess to be possible. Teddy was happily colouring a picture of a Christmas tree that Harry had drawn for him, so Harry manoeuvred Andromeda away from the table and looked at her quizzically. "You didn't tell me your sister and Draco were coming for Christmas, why's that?" he asked her.

Andromeda looked rather flustered. "Didn't I mention it, dear? I've been so busy, getting ready for Christmas, and Teddy's been rather hard work with all the excitement, you don't mind do you?….." she tailed off here, and looked rather anxiously at Harry. He'd become very important to her over the years, and she badly wanted this to go right.

"As long as Narcissa doesn't mind me being here, it's fine," Harry smiled. "Draco and I are good friends, I just don't want to upset his mum." He looked at Andromeda under his lashes. Ron had told him the day before that Andromeda had been discussing Harry's lack of a significant other with his mum, and he was sure he'd heard the name Draco mentioned.

Now, Andromeda gave a big smile. "Oh, no need to worry at all about that, Harry. Narcissa thinks you're wonderful, she's thrilled you and Draco get on so well. She worries about him so much, can't wait to see him settled down and happy." She bit her lip, obviously worried she'd let her mouth run away with her, but was delighted when Harry came over and gave her a big hug.

"You are a conniving, manipulating witch, but I love you for it," he said. "It doesn't seem to be any secret that I have feelings for Draco, I'm just hoping they're reciprocated. I've decided I've just got to go for it, I'll never forgive myself if I let this opportunity go. When he met Andromeda's eyes again, they'd filled with tears.

"I'm so glad. And you needn't fear about Draco reciprocating, I'm certain he feels the same. Oh, there's the doorbell, be a dear and let them in. My mince pies will be burning. She bustled back into the kitchen, leaving Harry to go and answer the door.

He was sure he didn't imagine the flicker of excited delight that crossed Draco's face, before his usual mask of indifference took over. Having greeted Narcissa politely and formally, he pointed her towards the kitchen before turning to his friend. "Draco, good to see you," he said with a grin, pulling the shocked man into a rough embrace. Draco stayed as stiff as a board initially, but then relaxed, and returned the hug.

"You, too, Harry," he said in a rather muffled tone, and then turned to deal with the hurricane that was his cousin. His face retained a rather puzzled expression all afternoon, he looked rather searchingly at Harry several times, but Harry just smiled back cheerfully.

Not until that evening, when various neighbours had come in for Christmas Eve drinks did he make his next move. Draco was pontificating about some new Ministry policy, becoming wordier and more pompous with each sentence. Passing by him on his way to get another drink, Harry said, "Oh, whatever, Draco, get some Christmas spirit" and pinched his bum. A lovely bum it was, as well. No one else saw the pinching, but they could hardly have failed to miss the way Draco jumped. Harry saw Narcissa and Andromeda look at each other, grin, then quickly look away. He continued on to the drinks table, well pleased with his work so far.

Christmas Day started far too early, courtesy of Teddy who was up well before any self-respecting larks or cockerels had even stirred. The rest of them staggered downstairs to the tree, where Teddy whirled like a top, his hair changing colour every few seconds. He calmed down after some firm words from his Grandmother, and opened his presents carefully, rather than ripping into them as he obviously wanted to. He even managed to pretend to Harry that the broom was just what he wanted, although his delight was obviously more genuine when he opened the books and Wizarding Lego that his Godfather had also supplied. Draco's Potion's Set was the hit of the day, and Teddy had to be restrained from dashing upstairs with it straight away.

Draco handed two wrapped gifts and an envelope to Harry, saying, in a would be casual voice, "Just some small tokens," but he couldn't hide the anxiety in his face. He needn't have worried, Harry loved the engraved cufflinks and the Quidditch tickets, and he smiled at the book of Wizarding Etiquette. "I could, er, accompany you to the match, if you have no-one else in mind," Draco said, still trying for the not-bothered-at-all voice.

"I wouldn't go with anyone else," Harry murmured. "Here, these are for you." Draco opened the comb first, and seemed delighted. The next present seemed to stump him though, and Harry had to explain. "It was Snape's," he said, "It came into my possession in our sixth year, and, although I lost it for a while, I got it back after the last battle. I thought you'd like to have it, it's got lots of notes that he wrote in it, and some spells that he invented. Including one that I would gladly never see again." He found the page showing the Sectumpsempra incantation, and shuddered.

Draco touched his hand and spoke softly. "Forgiven, many years ago, I promise. And thank you, so much. I love this.


End file.
